Monumental Mess-Ups

The world’s most controversial monuments.

The Sioux fought unsuccessfully to block the development of Mount Rushmore on hallowed Native American ground. Out of defeat, they decided to erect their own monument: the Crazy Horse Memorial, which is being carved into Thunderhead Mountain within eight miles of Mount Rushmore. Yet it has sparked its own controversy within the Native American community. Some view its construction as an attack on the landscape and an affront to Crazy Horse’s beliefs.

Photo by Alan Bakerl.

Second World War Monument to the Soviet Army, Bulgaria

Soviet-era war memorials honoring Red Army soldiers are often vandalized. But this WWII monument in the capital, Sofia, got an especially colorful makeover in June 2011: Fresh paint transformed the soldiers into Superman and other pop-culture figures. Tourists and locals flocked to see the monument, but the Bulgarian Culture Minister Vezhdi Rashidov was not amused, calling the makeover a “crime.” The soldiers have since been scrubbed to their original state.

Photo by Associated Press.

Valley of the Fallen, Spain

Dictator Francisco Franco ordered the construction of this monument outside Madrid to honor those who died for his cause during the 1930s Spanish Civil War. And he enlisted political prisoners to carve the massive basilica into a mountainside—infuriating many Spaniards. After years of demonstrations and debate, in May 2011, the government assembled a commission to evaluate its future. Its initial recommendation calls for Franco’s body to be removed from the site.

Photo by Marian Gurry Stanton.

African Renaissance Monument, Senegal

President Abdoulaye Wade didn’t win any popularity votes when he funneled millions into the construction of a monument to the African Renaissance. A waste of money wasn’t the only reaction to this 160-foot bronze colossus unveiled in April 2010. It depicts a stylized muscular man with a baby in his arms, emerging from a volcano and pulling along a half-naked woman—and has been criticized for both skimpy clothing and sexism.

Photo by Jeff Attaway via flickr.

Christ of the Pacific, Peru

Former President Alan García may have thought he was leaving a gift for his public, but the 120-foot Christ of the Pacific has been nothing but a monumental headache since its surprise construction was revealed in June 2011. Lima’s mayor was angry at not being consulted, while others questioned why it was designed and built in Brazil, not Peru. The one aspect that can’t be debated: Christ of the Pacific is now the world’s tallest Christ statue.

Photo by Associated Press.

Brown Dog Statue, London

A small dog statue in London’s Battersea Park looks harmless, but it’s a 1985 replacement of a statue with a fraught back story. The original terrier was erected in 1906 by a group opposed to the use of animals in medical experiments. It displayed a plaque condemning pro-vivisection students at the University College. Outraged and embarrassed, those students destroyed it. The new statue is plainer, sans fountain or plaque, but it is still a terrier, modeled after the pet of sculptor Nicola Hicks.

Photo by Peter Marshall/Demotix/Corbis.

Che Guevara Statue, Bolivia

Infamous revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara fought for the rights of the poor, inciting passions along the way. While some condemn his violent methods or philosophy, to the farmworkers in the town of La Higuera he remains “Saint Ernesto.” There, on the spot where the leader of a guerilla Marxist movement was captured and executed, residents dedicated a bust in his honor in 1997.

Photo by iStockphoto.

Beatles Monument, Mongolia

The statues of Buddha and Genghis Khan that loom over Mongolia have some unexpected company: a brick guitar-shaped memorial to the Beatles in downtown Ulaanbaatar. In 2008, Mongolian sculptor Den Barsboldt molded this tribute to the Fab Four, who won fans in some circles for their music—and for representing Western democratic freedoms. Mongolia had a peaceful, democratic revolution, but the older generation still doesn’t want to give this monument a chance.

Photo by iStockphoto.

Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, Washington, D.C.

Civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. finally got the monument treatment in Fall 2011. But if people were frustrated by the 27-year wait, they’ve got new complaints, starting with the chosen design by Chinese sculptor Lei Yixin—as opposed to an African-American, or at least American. And why was only half of his body carved? Poet Maya Angelou believes the inscription on the memorial, a quote from King, makes him “look like an arrogant twit.”

Photo by Kristoffer Tripplaar/Alamy.

Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain, London

“A drainage ditch,” “muddy bog,” and “municipal paddling pool” are some of the descriptions of architect Kathryn Gustafson’s Lady Di memorial, inaugurated in 2004. Troubled by misfortune, the memorial fountain has flooded, dried up, been vandalized and littered, and caused accidents due to slippery steps since its unveiling. Vivienne Parry, Diana’s so-called confidant, said it succinctly: “Here was the most celebrated Briton in 25 years, and this [memorial] is something you’d trip over before you realize it is even there.”

Photo courtesy of Dmclean, 2004.

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, Berlin

After budget battles, arguments over aesthetics, and political power trips, Germany’s national Holocaust memorial was finally dedicated in May 2005. Designed by Peter Eisenman, the 5.5-acre monument is a charcoal-colored stone slab labyrinth. The slabs are protected by an anti-graffiti coating, which, coincidentally, was manufactured by the same company that produced poison gas for the Nazis.

Having civil rights activist and athlete Arthur Ashe’s statue in the eternal company of white heroes of the Confederate States has enraged Richmond’s African-American majority. The sculpture depicts Ashe carrying a book and tennis racket, while a crowd of children reach up to him. From afar, it looks like Ashe is striking the children. Adding insult to injury, Ashe’s statue is shorter in stature than those of its Confederate company.

Outgoing president Alan García wanted to leave Peru a surprise and hoped a 120-foot statue of Christ would protect Lima. But not everyone likes surprises—not Lima’s mayor, informed only days before its June 2011 unveiling, and not locals frustrated that construction was outsourced to Brazil.

García’s surprise statue certainly isn’t the first to spark controversy. Some of the world’s most impressive monuments have backstories of bickering, which, in addition to good gossip, give travelers insights into local culture, history, and priorities. Even when a monument’s construction is well publicized, a positive reception isn’t guaranteed, whether because of differing aesthetic tastes, costliness, or partisanship.

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A recent case in point: the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.—27 years in the making. At its dedication on Oct. 16, 2011, opposition to the memorial’s outsourced-to-China design and its execution overshadowed the celebration. Poet Maya Angelou went so far as to state that the inscription on the memorial, a quote from King, made him “look like an arrogant twit.”

A series of such controversies at the National Mall inspired Kirk Savage to write the book Monument Wars. He notes that even the development of the Washington Memorial—today accepted as a national treasure—was a battle. “The Washington Monument itself took over 50 years to build. There were incredible problems,” Savage said in a PBS broadcast about the MLK Jr. monument hullabaloo. “Nobody really wanted an obelisk.”

Not all monuments are set in stone; sometimes, what nobody wants never materializes. Earlier this fall, in a poor province of Vietnam, construction was halted on a nearly $20 million tribute to mothers of martyred soldiers from the Vietnam War. The project’s spiraling costs had made it too unpopular—even among the family of its central figure, Nguyen Thi Thu, who died in December 2010. “My mother’s soul would not be happy with this,” daughter Le Thi Tri ultimately told the press.

Outside Madrid, unhappy locals have railed against a certain site for so many years that the government has formed a commission to recommend modifications. Read on for the inside story on that and more monumental controversies.